StatoilHydro Petroleum AS (StatoilHydro) has been granted consent to conduct exploration drilling in the North Sea with the mobile facility Mærsk Giant.

The consent concerns drilling of well 7/1-2-Yoda which belongs to Production License 271 where StatoilHydro is the operator and Talisman Energy Norge AS is the other licensee. The duration of drilling operations is estimated at about 50 days.

Mærsk Giant is a mobile jack-up drilling facility owned and operated by the A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group.

The facility was built in Japan by Hitachi and commissioned in 1986. Mærsk Giant can operate in water depths of up to 107 metres and can accommodate 87 persons.